U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,367 discloses a chewing gum made on the basis of a biodegradable polymer having polymeric properties, i.e. a polymer. A significant advantage, as explained in the patent, is that the resulting chewing gum may be degraded when disposed in the nature or e.g. on streets as a result of normal environmental influence. The disclosed chewing gum is claimed as having a structure and chewing characteristics comparable to those of chewing gum based on conventional, non-degradable polymers. It has moreover been realized, that the exchange of polymers provides a reduced tackness.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,231 discloses a chewing gum comprising a biodegradable polymer and where the polymer comprises a poly(lactic acid-dimer fatty acid oxazoline) copolymers or a poly(lactic acid-diol-urethane) copolymer.
A problem of the above disclosed chewing gums is that the biodegradable polymers as such does not simply replace the polymer or polymers of conventional chewing gum. It has been realized that the simple polymer substitution results in an overall chewing gum having different characteristics than conventional chewing gum. This problem indicates that the substituted polymer reacts differently with the remaining chewing ingredients than the biodegradable polymers thereby rendering conventional chewing gum formulations more or less useless.
It is an object of the invention to provide a biodegradable chewing gum capable of incorporating at least certain important chewing gum ingredients.